Thursday, March 10, 2005

Anyone who knows me knows I'm no prude, by any means. Get me started with some wink-wink nudge-nudge about a little of the in-and-out and you're in for a blue streak. In such cases, my potty mouth runneth over. If you know your Chaucer, think of the Lady of Bath, think of her bath, and think of me with a snorkel and mask. Diver's mask, Zorro mask, I'm down with it all (and yes, pun intended shamelessly).

What I'm not down with is porn. Oh, I've seen my share of it and it's not like it makes me blush or fall into a fit of apoplexy or rant about the decline of society but it's never been anything that's aroused much in me. Now that I'm the father of two daughters, it's a little troublesome. The objectification of women in most porn is disturbing to me. It's difficult for me to watch a woman degraded while I think, "That's someone's little girl." Takes all the fun out of it, to say the least.

While I may dislike porn, I hate hypocrisy. My own objection to porn does not extend so far that I think it should be outlawed since I'm pretty sure that there are many more dangerous things in the world. If I don't like it, I can choose not to view it and it's not place to say what you can or can't watch. Unfortunately, there are too many politicians who want to legislate and restrict what resides on our computers or what goes into our DVD players. Unfortunately for them, they're apparently sluts for campaign contributions (via Atrios):

Washington, DC, -- Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a report Addicted to Porn: Members of Congress Accept Political Contributions from Porn Purveyors. The report details how 15 Members of Congress, including 11 Representatives and four Senators, all of whom revile pornography, have accepted campaign contributions from corporations and executives who derive substantial profits from selling pornography.

The report contains four sections: 1) how companies make money from pornography; 2) which companies have PACs that make campaign contributions; 3) which Members of Congress receive these contributions; and 4) the quotes of Members of Congress named in the report who have publicly condemned pornography. In addition, an appendix to the report details the contributions made from corporations and executives to Members of Congress. -----------Cong. Fred Upton, who leads the charge against indecency, accepted over $56,000.Arizona Senator John McCain, who claimed to be the "anti-porn" presidential candidate in ads that ran prior to the South Carolina primary, pocketed $46,000 from corporations and executives who profit from porn.Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director referred to Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) as "the biggest hypocrite of all" for having written a letter to former Vice President Al Gore demanding that he return a contribution from an adult entertainment web site and for sanctimoniously ranting at Viacom executives that they cared more about profits than morality, despite accepting $47,000 in porn profits.-----------A copy of the report can be found on the web at www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman at press@citizensforethics.org.

If you're going to run your mouth about restricting 1st Amendment rights, you'd better be prepared to walk your talk. I know, a bit much to ask from a politician but watching who walks their talk on election day is not a bad way to vet a candidate.